June 2010

Start of June I was in Swaziland. I wasn't sure if Alanna was going to come to Swaziland so the day after I arrived there I headed to Maputo, Mozambique. Though its a Portuguese speaking country it was nice to try and use my Spanish. They could sort of understand me which was good since they predominantly didn't speak English. I stayed at a place called The Base. Its a nice hostel and I met some travelers from Europe and went to the fish market with them. Had some amazing seafood.The next few days were spent trying to find out if Alanna was going to go to Swaziland. She said she was, so I went back to Swaziland Backpackers to wait. My South Africa prepaid number doesn't work. So I was forced to rely on Facebook to communicate with Alanna. So I called the night before just to check in and find out if they were coming. I had used the receptions phone and added air time so I could use his phone. She said it would take around 4 hours. So They would arrive around 12 or so. So I waited at the hostel for I think it was 2 hours. I was worried since they had rented a car. By they I mean Alanna, Martijn, and Caroline. They showed up shortly later. It was nice to see them again. We spent the weekend hanging out. Went quad biking and Caroline drove us around a Game park. So the game park was quite awesome. I'm surprised the car survived how many times we bottomed out. At one point me and Martijn got out to guide the car. The wheels had to straddle a whole. lol. Good fun. A young Elephant acted like it was going to charge the car. It was a very good weekend. I was very sad to see them leave it was a hard goodbye. I met two travelers at Swaziland Backpackers, Kendall and Matt. We traveled to Tofo, Mozambique where we relaxed on the beach. Kendall and I went snorkeling with Whale Sharks which was awesome. I must say when a 10 meter Shark comes up less then a meter from you even though you know it eats krill and plankton I was still very much afraid. Met some cool people there at the hostel called Fatima's Nest. Stayed at their other hostel in Maputo which was very dirty. I recommend the Base. Anyways saw the first of the games of the World Cup here in Dino's. Saw the England vs USA game. Lets just say there might have been 4 Americans and like 40 English. Americans are very under represented when it comes to traveling outside of Europe and North America.I left Tofo on the 13th spent the 14th in Maputo spent the 15th at Swaziland Backpackers then arrived in Durban at Emil's on the 16th. That weekend went to the Eastern Cape where Emil was running a workshop. Spent the next few days learning Emil's system of Keywording and editing photos to put online for stock agencies. Watched the Soccer games. I kept an eye on Gumtree which is SA's equivalent of Craigslist or an online classifieds. I hadn't bought tickets prior to being in SA because I had no idea where I would be. Finished up the month interning at Emil's in Durban.

Pictures

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Alanna in Swaziland during our ATV trip.

Fresh Prawns(shrimp) from Maputo fish market

Whale shark in Tofo, Mozambique

Me relaxing at Condor Colony Eastern Cape, South Africa

Landscape Eastern Cape